While not by any means the best Story of Seasons game on the market, Pioneers of Olive Town is promising and disappointing in equal measure. Perhaps future patches will iron out some of the issues with framerate and boring character dialogue, but for now, potential buyers should be aware that this game isn't quite in a state we can recommend.
More than that, though, it's a true joy to find a game that doesn't stretch out its stellar moments with long sections of padding. Every minute you spend in Later Alligator is time well-spent, with background details to look at, terrible puns to appreciate, and a noodly jazz soundtrack that's full of bops. It's worth the price, we say, because it has the highest laughs per second (LPS) of any game we've played. That's damn good value!
If you're looking for the next Stardew Valley, this doesn't even come close. Harvest Moon: One World is a poor imitation of what the series once was, and it feels more like a rushed mobile game than a full-fledged Switch game. These games have always been about chores, but this one feels like a chore to play. In our opinion, your money is better spent on something that respects you as a fan of the genre.
For people who loved the collect-craft-combat loop of Fantasy Life, this game might scratch that same itch, and it'll certainly take up a fair few hours – even if the "combat" part is missing. Littlewood is an incredibly impressive game for a solo developer, and though none of its ideas go particularly deep, it more than makes up for it in breadth. Fans of the life sim genre should definitely seek this one out.
Astrologaster is perhaps the only time you'll ever get to play through a pop-up book version of London's 17th-century medical history. It's an extremely specific pitch, but when it hits, it hits well – and its musical interludes are as delightful and giggle-worthy as any of Shakespeare's best. Sure, it's not going to be to everyone's tastes, but if you're looking for something a little different and you're a fan of the classic British historical sitcom Blackadder, then you could do a lot worse than give this a spin.
Heaven's Vault is a game deeply concerned with the past, how it affects the present, and whether or not it can predict the future. Its fantastic translation puzzles and intricate story are often overshadowed by its unfortunate need to constantly pause and load, sadly denying it the higher score that it otherwise deserves. Aside from these technological issues, Heaven's Vault is a world that's beautifully realised, with a mystery that you'll be thinking about long after the game is done.
Olija is a piratical adventure that really, really pays attention to atmosphere. From its bombastic music, which echoes similarly pirate-themed Return of the Obra Dinn, to its arthouse-cinema-style sudden cuts to black, Olija is possibly the most cinematically dramatic indie game we've seen in quite some time.
Calico is still a little too buggy for us to recommend. It's fun to ride a huge cat off a cliff in an ice cream sundae outfit, but less fun when you get stuck in said cliff and your face turns inside-out. There's a lot of love in this game, but it doesn't quite outweigh the issues – and given that we've already seen more than one patch issued since launch, we're not convinced the developer can pull this one back from the brink.
Drawn To Life: Two Realms is a sequel that fails to replicate what made the Drawn To Life games so compelling: the actual drawing part. It's pretty (and pretty cheap), but the puzzle-platforming underwhelms and the story drags; if you're a hardcore fan of the franchise then we dare say you'll be able to extract a modicum of enjoyment here, but there's an equal chance that, as a series aficionado, the changes made to the basic gameplay will annoy you the most.
Phogs is a genuine dose of unbridled joy in a weird, physics-y, dog-tube package. It's hard to play this game without having a huge, goofy smile on your face. The Switch version has some minor to major issues here and there, but it rarely slows down the momentum of the puzzle-solving, dog-wiggling gameplay – this is another brilliant co-op experience for Nintendo's system.
Just Dance 2021 fails to ever feel like a fully fleshed-out game, especially for the £50 price tag. Although the new tracks and the World Dance Floor mode are fun enough, it's hard to justify spending so much on a game that adds so little, and expects you to purchase more with thinly-veiled in-game advertising and upselling. If you love the series then you'll be investing no matter what we say, but we can't help but feel that Just Dance as a franchise has been resting on its laurels for far too long now.
Lovers of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon may not find this game to be exactly the kind of farming they enjoy – it's more like, you know, actual farming, with all the tiny changes in fertiliser recipes and water temperature that farming requires. But for anyone who needs to practise mindfulness, patience, and appreciation for the small things (all 2,000 of them), Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin may just be the therapy you need.
Fuser is a weird little thing that has fantastic moments turn into awful ones at the drop of a beat. But when the awful moments are still incredibly fun, does it really matter? If you don't take Fuser too seriously, it could be one of the best rhythm games out there.
Dungreed is a fairly typical roguelite game with a few well-chosen additions to the design that make it stand out as something special. It may not be genre-defining and it's certainly not game-changing, but it draws from other roguelite designs to come up with something that's polished, smart, and extremely satisfying.
Carto's main concept is compelling, but it runs out of steam in the mid-game and succumbs to repetition far too swiftly. It's nonetheless a beautifully-drawn title that's often a pleasure to play, but when it's tedious, it's really tedious. It's arguably the perfect title to play with kids and novices who are likely to be more forgiving of Carto's many shortcomings, but everyone else should approach with a little more caution.
